US Prosecutors Launch New Wave of Investigations Into Clergy Sex-Abuse Claims
The Report
The Pennsylvania report that sparked the growing number of inquiries was released with redactions on Aug. 14, after Shapiro, the state’s attorney general, fought for it to be made public during a heated legal battle. His office had led the investigation.
The nearly 900-page report covers abuse by clergy dating back as much as 70 years in six of eight Pennsylvania dioceses, including Allentown, Erie, Greensburg, Harrisburg, Pittsburgh, and Scranton (Philadelphia and Altoona-Johnstown were already subjects of previous grand juries).
The findings included profiles of 301 clergymen with credible allegations against them. But because of continuing legal battles, more than a dozen names and related information were redacted.
“Most of the victims were boys, but there were girls, too. Some were teens; many were prepubescent. Some were manipulated with alcohol or pornography,” the report says.
It also detailed how church administrators “often dissuaded victims from reporting abuse to police, pressured law enforcement to terminate or avoid an investigation, or conducted their own deficient, biased investigations, without reporting crimes against children to the proper authorities.”
Shapiro said that above all else, church officials had “protected their institution.”
https://www.theepochtimes.com/us-prosecutors-launch-new-wave-of-investigations-into-alleged-clergy-abuse_2655892.html